Too often we start with seeing what is wrong with this world. We wallow in ‘what’s wrong.’We need to instead ‘celebrate what’s right with the world.’And adopt this as our perspective. Our frame of focus.

The lights dimmed after his introductory remarks. Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top freelance photographers. He has worked for the National Geographic magazine for 20 years. He is the author of nine books on nature and leadership. And he’s an inspirational speaker.

Hundreds of us sat, hushed, in the dark, awaiting light to be beamed from three large projection screens. He then flashed up a photograph.

See this untamed field of green, dotted by bright yellow dandelions.This is the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia.

I was dialed in. Selkirk Mountains. My mountains. My British Columbia. My Canada. What were the odds that he would have picked this shot and this story? [Read more…]

“Joel Sartore is a photographer for the National Geographic. He will take 30,000 photos in a year to come up with three or four keeper photos. Sartore has also been working on a 20-year protect called The Photo Ark, taking studio-style photos of animals to document biodiversity and call attention to endangered species. ‘The goal is for people to look these species in the eye and get them to care while there’s still time,’ said Sartore, described as a modern-day Noah. He has photographed more than 2,650 species and he believes ‘for many of Earth’s creatures, time is running out. Half of the world’s plant and animal species will soon be threatened with extinction.’ Sartore believes he’ll have 5,000 to 6,000 photos of animals in The Photo Ark by the time he’s finished.” Inspirational “Charles Kuralt” Sunday Morning-like clip.

Out of 22,000 entries, this was National Geographics’ 2012 Grand-Prize Photo Contest Winner: The Explosion! The subject’s name is Busaba, a well cared for Indochinese Tigress whose home is at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand.

“Sarah, the Cheetah from the Cincinatti Zoo, shattered the world record for the standing 100-meter dash, clocking a time of 5.95 seconds—making Olympian Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds look positively stodgy by comparison. The ‘Polka-dotted missile’ rocketed to 61 miles an hour.” Beyond Sarah’s raw speed, was the beauty and grace of this incredible animal. Enjoy…

First it was AC-DC. Then came Stephen P, Vicki @ The Kiwi Blog Bus and the incomparable Anake Goodall, all from NZ. And then followed Tracie Louise from South East Queensland with her dazzle. And just when you think the Down Under is tapped, I trip into an album from Angus Stone a folk-pop-rock singer-songwriter from Australia. On this album, you’ll be treated to guitar, mandolin, harmonica, trumpets and more…in music that hits my sweet spot. I couldn’t pick one favorite to share, so I’m giving you a taste of my three favorites…enjoy.

“They were aboard Horn’s 110-foot sailboat off Cape Town, South Africa, when perhaps as many as 10,000 common dolphins appeared around their boat, swimming in what’s sometimes referred to as stampede behavior. “At first, on the horizon, we noticed what appeared to be a giant ball of bait fish…The water boiled for literally a mile in every direction … only as it approached at the speed of a swift wave did we see first a nose, then another, then a dorsal fin and then a thousand of them, then more…Only then did we realize we were experiencing the rare ‘super pod’ of dolphins. Not dozens, not hundreds, but thousands of them — so thick you could have walked across their backs had they been game for it.”
~ The GrindTV Blog

“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”

Here’s Josh Groban & Brian McKnight with some of my fuel this morning – in their beautiful rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” …I just need to find a way to join Hunter Thompson for a 50 mile ride on the Pacific Coast Highway…